for all which we heartily and most humbly beg as on our Knee that we may have your Noble step in this Good Work as a Leading Card to other Pious Ladies and a little small Acknowledgment which you cannot better make to the Great and Good God of the deep sense you have of all his many mercies To whom be Glory Honour and Dominion world without End Pray all we Poor Boys May it please you most Great and Noble Countess AS your Title bears the greatest sound so your Name and Memory will be more beloved than all that shall succeed the Protestants loved and they all bewailed it in the Nation when it fell but while Sion-House shall last Old Northumberland's Name will live and may you live also for ever Live when Sun Moon and Stars shall be no more Live in the heavenly Jerusalem when earthly Sion and earthly things shall be no more And that you may so do let the Love of God now dwell in you the Blood of Christ and his Spirit wash and sanctifie you Soul and Body to make both blameless at his coming and to wait for his Son from Heaven which though it may not be in your daies yet will it be a pleasure all your life long to think indeed upon it and that when he comes the second time it will be without sin unto salvation without sin that is a good word indeed At his first coming he was loaded with sins for us Isa 53. O read often this Chapter but he is now without and shall appear without sin for us Christ is got rid of our sins by his sufferings he gave satisfaction for us to the Father no Pens nor Tongues can sufficiently set out this Madam feed your thoughts upon it frequently the worlds all vanity from top to bottom and must pass away 1 Joh. 2. 17. But the Love of God and Blood of Christ abides for ever O happy man that maketh that his portion All things fail but my God and my Duty said a great one Oh! keep close to Christ then that he may clasp you when you and this world must part Trust not in worldly Princes saith the Psalms Their breath is in their nostrils and will soon fall to earth Happy is the man who hath the God of Jacob for his portion which made Heaven and Earth and that Heaven and Earth may both be yours One you have already and the other may you ever have also That shall be the prayers of us poor School-Boys yea we shall all pray that you may for ever sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob Luke 13. v. 28. be in the Kingdom of God to sing the everlasting praises of the Lamb and his Joys to Eternity Revel 7. 16. May it please your most Great and Noble Ladiship WE the Ladies Hospital-Boys of Highgate have humbly presumed to pray and dedicate one of these little Charity School house-Sticks to your Right Honourable Family which is Illustrious as a Star of great Magnitude and has shin'd if not out-shin'd most in this our Horison for great Wisdom in the Laws and Statutes of the Kingdom which made the Nation so happy in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth when your Lord 's Noble Ancestor governed all as only Minister of State and may your present Lord be as great and as good a Patriot to his Country the Laws and Priviledges of it yea and Patron to the best of Preaching-Ministers as his Noble Family or Grandfather has been heretofore and so whilst he really loves both his Prince and Kingdom with the Preaching-Ministers also he must needs be a good and great friend to both and our Protestant Religion so much struck at at this time which is far beyond all the earthly things in the world for true value and esteem may your Ladiship and Lord therefore both long live together and may your mutual Love be blessed by the Great God with many Children as it is and may they all live and stand round your great Table as Olive-branches flourish in the Courts of God's own House be good and pious here holy and happy to all Eternity for that is a long thing and must be and our Immortal Souls too when the Sun the Sea and World shall be no more Most Honourable Madam WE are come again though the Year be hardly out since our setting up But for the future we will never trouble your Right Noble Ladiship more than once if so often but now necessity puts us upon it for getting something out of Great Families to carry on this next Years Charge And we remember how your Honour gave a Caution when you sent your Guineys not to be too troublesom for that you had very many objects in the Country which did need my Lord's help and the truth is the whole World is full of wants so that Good and Great Persons can never lack Objects but this is a thing not common that bears your Noble Name and is Dedicated to the Honour of your Sex and in feeding it two or three Years you will make it live it self and stand upon its own Legs and would your Honour but be pleased to send to see how well it stands in the mean time we well know you to be a good and prudent Lady and therefore will not believe in the least you will yet stick out to help us till the thing be a little stronger and have taken better Root which it will soon and certainly do and then you nor no other Noble Ladies will ever repent in the least of what has been done for us who will ever pray for you my Lord his Sons and all your Noble Family that your Souls may be truly happy when the World shall fly away like a mighty Eagle and be seen no more for ever the Sun Moon or Stars be darkened the Silver Cord loosed or the Golden Bowl broken and the Spirit return to God that gave it Eccles 12. v. 2 6. Right Honourable Madam THough all Good Works may be said to speak for themselves yet a powerful Intercessor does do well and for your house or most Noble Family a greater than your self cannot be for as our Lord Jesus Christ his greatness with the Father makes every thing to be easie and readily granted that he moves the Father for so your Power and Influences must needs be very successful because you move the nearest of Relations and them too that are all eminently Religious and such as have been so for many years the Grandmother being yet living in the Children Grandchildrens graces Madam assure your self 't is for a Good Work we are now a begging and it must be none but good and great Families and a few Citizens that are very eminent indeed that we intend thus to go unto and in so doing how can we miss especially when it is fully resolved by God's grace that the Discipline of this little Charity-School shall be as near as may be for the Honour of God and Religion
for we cannot will good much less do it of our selves Yet you must live for Heaven and by Christ get Faith or you can never be saved Short Hints but Sound Truths In great Humility THe Heathen Oracle of mortal man used to say We are born crying live laughing and dye sighing But Job and Solomon seem to hint there is little laughter for man is born to sorrow as the sparks fly up Job 5. 7. and All is vanity saith Solomon Eccles 12. 8. That is all besides Christ and the knowledge of him in a strict sense And sayes Hintius Vpon this account I could even obscure my self to think how much short all knowledge is and how much envy the most curious parts sustain and undergo especially when they are in great and high places where they have too too little time to converse with themselves mind their maker or rectifie their crooked nature Infancy is full of ignorance Youth of sins and Old Age of sorrows and the whole life of dangers so that it is a great misery for poor man who is but a Pile or Bag full of dust to come into the world were it not for the hope of heaven or a better world But this is never lost without great grief when possest with much love A certain rich man that loved riches well and too too well too being sick to death caused all his Plate and Gold to be brought before him and thus said to his soul like the fool in the Gospel Luk. 1â— 18. My soul if thou wilt now tarry with me and not leave my body all this will I promise thee and thou shalt enjoy it with Riches fine Buildings Gardens and sumptuous Houses But finding his infirmity increasing and no hopes of life in a great rage and fury he broke out into this most desperate speech Since thou wilt not abide nor be intreated nor tarry longer with me I recommend thee to the Devil and so soon departed Oh! let such men fear to laugh who are in danger to go where it will never avail or profit any thing to weep And he that looks on a picture and sees on it a rich man and a beggar never envies one nor pities th' other all men are but pictures and shadows quickly pass away and the poor have an advantage of the rich many times in dying having but little to leave behind but many are dull in want and wanton in fruition and most mens lives are miserable seeing those that seek for good hardly find it When evil comes of it self and enters our gates unsought Yet the brain will be working whilst the pulse is beating let a man live few years or let a man live many one does not make him happy nor another unhappy but his living well or ill does it Anselmus sayes In heaven joys shall be within and without above and beneath in all parts and round about and everlasting too saith the Prophet Isaiah 65. The lovers of this world eat drink and are merry but for want of the love of God go down to hell Psal 9. 17. in a little while and nothing remains of them but a short name dust and worms Seneca sayes evil actions are whipt by the conscience of themselves and torments them sore and that wickedness drinketh up the greatest part of its own poison and is a punishment to it self But Christians say there is a hell besides and most of all nations believe future rewards and punishments Oh! let us prevent weeping by weeping sayes One and all of hells sorrows by heavenly repentance Aristotle sayes It were better to dye than to do any thing against the good of virtue And I sayes Seneca was better born than to be a slave to lust what they count virtue Christians do not so well know but this is certain it is better not to be than not to know a good God in Jesus Christ and live to him in some measure who is all and will be all for ever Though Zenon said through his Atheism he feared nothing but Old Age yet Socrates tells ye When Death approaches bad men will be willing to turn Divines And if I have lived well sayes Lucicrema why do not you clap your hands But Divine Love is a never ending Treasure and the Orient Pearl is gathered from the Early Dew And in the 110th Psalm it is said of Christ That from the womb of the morning he had the dew of his youth that is as I humbly conceive from the first peeping out of God's Love to mankind as it was through a promise in Jesus Christ so all these promises and blessings obtained in Time or Eternity are gathered from the head heart Love and Merit of Christ as the morning dew is from Grass Corn or Herbs But to be careless of him or our selves and to live without fear is to Dye Living and is in great danger to fall into the Sea of God's everlasting wrath Awake awake O miserable Soul and lift up thine Eyes lest the night of nights overtake thee Rom. 13. 12. Joh. 9. 4. And assure your selves Death will almost daunt good Livers what wilt thou do But he whom happiness affects cares not how long he lives But Job was safer on the Dunghill than Adam in Paradise And Christ the true Son of the Living God when begging water at the Well of Jacob Joh. 4. 7. from the woman with the Pitcher Yet many think a middle condition is best for this world and for our Souls too but we need every day the blood of Christ to wash us all as well as Water for our faces And the Soul is washed by secret thinking and applying of the Love Life Death and Merit of Christ to it self He gave himself for me sayes Paul Gal. 2. 20. And our Souls are like Camaeleons live upon the Gospel-Air Promises in Christ and God's Love through Christ but the world trusted on is apt to thrust all out of our minds And sayes Tully No man could ever make me believe the Soul should live in this mortal Body and be dead when absent Oh! live then to live for ever Bear well and prepare well for that which can never be avoided namely Death To labour not to dye once is to labour in vain But to live to Christ is a certain way to prevent a second Death And a man whose Soul is truly conversing with God shall find more pleasure in secret walks closets groves and hedges than in the Palace of a Prince And Sir Walter Rawleigh sayes He that is resolved to be a great Favourite and Servant there must abandon strict Piety The love of Fame Name and Pleasure is inconsistent with the Love of God True a weak man may give strict Rules and the holiest Minister in the world hardly lives up to his own Preaching And you cannot look to Heaven with one Eye and look down to the Earth with the other at the same time But however the best counsel is best and most wholsom
honest Mr. Perkins that old Puritan Minister did calling upon God for the pardon of all his Sins both as to Commission and Omission Policarpus being pierced with a Sword issued so much Blood that it almost quenched the Fire and amazed the Beholders as it were At his Apprehending they hurried him so fast along that they broke his Leg crying This is the Father of the Christians and the despiser of our God said the Heathens And says Ignatius the first Martyr as we read of When the Beasts have ground me and my Bones with their Teeth I shall be as God's White Bread and I will worship none none but the God of Heaven Said another And none but Christ none but Christ said that brave English meek and humble Martyr John Lambert when half burnt by Henry the 8th for denying the real Presence in the Sacrament The Soul is in the Body but not the Body So Believers are in the World but not the World said another Doctor Hall said The English Clergie were the Worlds wonder He means the Painful Pious Preaching ones and would some were in again that were long ago put out Tertullian wrote Day and Night and made an Apology for the Christians and complained That too many Lawyers did almost as much hurt as Souldiers But Pliny told the Heathen Emperor The Christians did none but pray'd in the Night and sung Hymns to one Jesus but they would not Lye Steal nor commit Adultery but did visibly eat together But the Souldiers wearing all Crowns of Lawrel upon their Heads for a great Victory which the Emperour had obtained A private Christian wore his upon his Arm saying It did not become him nor his Fellows to be Crowned with it Head Heart Feet Milt and Liver are all failing said a great Divine Arise make ready mount my Soul and go away I saw not you my Children when you were in the Womb God that fed you then will be a Father to you when I am gone and you shall not want I am weary of Sin and willing to Die God's Mercy is unspeakable One Saterday Morning especially I found the power of Religion and the certainty of the other World and Divine Eternal Love Glory glory to the Deliverer of my Soul out of all doubts about it Origen was fastened by the Neck with an Iron Chain his Feet in a pair of Stocks till he died Paul and Barnabas differed a little Act. 15. 39. But in Heaven Luther and Zyngulus will agree together said a Father though here in some things they could not Come Oh sweet Jesus Christ thou bright Morning-Star come I desire to be with thee said Holland Zepheron was said to be the Blind Man's Eyes and the Lame Man's Feet And the Lady Warwick gave both Books Clothes and Money for the Schooling both in England and Wales And a great Countess that lives in or near the Strand being lately in the Country was informed of a very poor Family which she went in Person for to see and finding the poor Woman Sick and Weak having two or three Children in the Bed and no other Boulster but an old Straw Cushion she presently caused a good Caudle and saw it made for the Woman gave her a very considerable sum of Money and ordered Boulster Bed or Blanckets for the Children and all this is good Charity and Humility too And to breed up poor ignorant Countrey Boyes to know God and themselves is the same which shall be endeavoured in your School-House yea 't is as much as to feed the Blind and Lame and in some sence rather more for the Soul is better than the Body To teach a young Bird to sing or young Boys to fear God is the best thing in the World The Light of Europe is the Gospel and the life of Preaching is for holy Living but Persecution brings Death and Life too Says a Father Death in one hand and Life in the other it kills the Body and crowns the Soul I have Lived long and Sinned long saith Beza but now I am willing and would fain Die to be rid of it giving God thanks for six things And some signal Mercies every good Man may find besides his daily ones Basil being profer'd Honours to Apostarize cryed They were changeable being threatned with Confiscation and Banishment he cried he need not fear he had little to loose and for Banishment Heaven was his Home or Country as for his Death they might do it with one blow You are mad said they Ay and ever will be for Divine Love is to me a never failing Treasure Francis Junus was converted with that Text In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God John 1. 1. And by this through the tender Mercies of God was I brought Home and when a Prodigal and a great Sinner comes Home there is great joy in Heaven Perkins converted a poor Thief that was going to be Hanged thus he wringing of his Hands upon the Ladder Perkins asked him why he was afraid to die Oh said he 't is t'other t'other Death I am afraid of Ah man come down a little and see what God's good Grace can do for thee and by Prayer so opened the nature of Sin and then of God's free Grace and Mercy by Jesus Christ for the Pardoning of it that he made the man both chearful and willing to Die He wrote many Books and frightned Sinners with that word Damn and yet would open the Blood Death and Merits of Jesus Christ in the Preaching of the holy Gospel Most wise Men desire the Lawyer and Phisician to deal plainly with them and Lords and Ladies should not love a Flatterer in the Pulpit nor a Chaplain that is not Holy Harmless or Exemplary in the Family Ambrose boldly reproved Theodotius the Emperor and used to say Men embrace Gold but refuse Salvation put off that on any account and catch at good Bargains The World is a Bird in Hand Heaven is one in the Bush like the Frenchman that would not leave his part in Paris for Paradise Theodoret said The delight of the Soul is to know its Maker And the great learned Earl of Leicester said Man differ'd in nothing more from a Beast than in his Reason especially Heavenly Reason Wisdom and Vnderstanding Hierom would not live in Rome because it savoured so much of Paganism and sinful Pleasures hardly of any true Christianity which is an inward Mystical and outward mortifying Thing and indeed it has not been long free from one Wickedness or another Ignorance Uncleanness Persecution Idolatry Sodomy and therefore well may she be called the Mother of Harlots who takes Money and Rent for so many Stew-Houses yearly and it is as good Money to him as the best which comes into his Cosser But if my Father or Mother Brothers Sisters and Children were all before me weeping and hanging on me to keep me in a sinful Life I would despise them all and fling them to the Ground saith
spoil so great a Gem and Jewel or Immortal thing Christ will save us now Christ will save us ever if we be but willing yet he will never bleed more but he prays and mediates for us still for he makes continual Intercession Rom. 10. 4. and his blood speaks better things than the blood of Abel that cryed down vengeance upon Cain but Christ's blood crys up forgiveness unto us Oh Father let them come to me if they will be mine Joh. 17. 24. And may you both dwell with him for ever but oh live a little if you have not live to him a little if you cannot much time being now short lay up as much as can be Treasure in Heaven where no Rust nor Thieves can come Lands Debts Rents and Houses may be all lost but Treasure in Heaven can never miscarry and if ever we indeed mean to come there it must be by faith in our Lord Jesus Christ Money will not buy Pardon Blood nor Tears cannot nor the Fruit of our Bodies go for the sin of our Souls Micah 6. 7. But Christ's Blood is Currant Coin Oh stick to that Rock which will not fail when the Silken Stockin and the Silver Shoe must off and never on more nor the Soul return to the same Body Vanity of Vanities how is all but froth and vanity besides Christ and therefore if he be not ours we are lost for nothing for nothing but a Dream a Bubble and a Fancy yea and our Souls to Eternity Madam WE have presumed to offer one of these to the Lady Player Mrs. Love and Madam Pilkinton with a few humble Lines as now we do to your most great Right Honourable Ladiship from all which we most humbly pray that this Good Work which in charity must be so accounted may be a little countenanced by you the four Beloved Ladies of this mighty City for if any names be deservedly great and famous more than others sure it is yours and those other three above mentioned And may your Names live from generation to generation whilst your Walls and Gates last and your Souls to Eternity after all May Hell never be known nor Heaven lost by you nor none of yours especially your dear Husbands But may they be all four for ever Citizens in the New Jerusalem walk hand in hand with the Lamb and his Redeemed ones to the Fountains of Living Water where God shall be all in all and they alwaies drinking from the River of his Pleasures Rev. 7. 17. Psal 36. 8. So prays one and all our Charity School-house Madam THE great God and his Providence has made Sir Thomas the Father as it were of all the famous Apprentices of London and onely sole Judge between the great Merchant and his Man and not so but an Eye for the Nation also piercing through and through the greatest Intrigues Policies Stratagems that Malice Hell or Rome can lay against our King Kingdom or Religion Liberty and Interest Gems and Jewels of greater value than the Gold of Ophir in a true sense But in your sphere Madam this little little Work is not to be despised in the least but a Scriptural Honour it is to be owned the Lady of Charity and a Mistress or great Benefactor to one of their little Schools Light is light truth truth a spark is fire and true Charity praise worthy to the world's end and so long may your Name Praise and Honour live and our House also Madam LOve is from the Fountain and Divine Being of all good May that ever flow in your Name and Nature and be as natural to you as the Rose and Buds are to the Summer and then when this Spring and your Charity shall flow up in and from you to the barren Hill of Highgate where your School-house stands it will then become a feeding filling Spring too for Charity will feed us and praise flow from us to the famous City-Ladies names which shall never be forgotten but be fairly Registred and read from one Age and one Generation to another And now may the Love of God Almighty the pure Joys and Comforts of his holy Spirit ever abide with you and yours whilst you abide in this Tabernacle of Clay and he constantly guide you through the Wilderness of this bewitching barren wicked World till you come to the last period of Life and wrap you up then in the Righteousness of God's dear and anointed only Christ to shine as the Sun in the Kingdom of the Father for ever more praies thirty six of us and our Minister also Most Worthy Madam THere are four Gates in the City four Seasons in the Year four Ladies nigh together that will hardly be forgotten but shall be beloved for their Husbands sakes their own too for their praise is truly praise-worthy their virtues all eminently specious But now dear Madam would it not be a high and great Honour to see you our four Citizens Ladies with your four well-beloved Husbands our constant Parliament men for London chosen more by hearts than hands and a many brave judicious sober Citizens waiting on them all standing one by one as it were on the brow of our Hill saying one to the other There is the Tower and the Monument the Old Change Guild-Hall and Blackwell-Hall which some would fain burn again there is Bow-Steeple the Holy Bible the Silver Bells of Aaron the godly outed Ministers the melodious Musick of the Gospel Smithfield Martyrs yet alive and the Best Society the very Best in all the world for Civility Loyalty Men and Manners with the greatest cash bulk mass and stock of all sorts of Silks Cinnamon Spices Wine Gold Pearl Spanish-Wooll and Cloaths with the River Nilus and the stately Ships of Turshish to carry in and out the great Merchandizes of the world And may all this with the dew of Hermon her Silver Drops with your godly Ministers yet unrestored ever be to the World's end and to your Live's end May you and yours be beloved as you are And now the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and all Consolations bless you both in Spirit Soul and Body Sickness Health Life and Death here and for evermore prayes all we your poor youngest Hospital-Boys of Highgate and to help them is most Charity ever The old fares well thanks be to a good City and their Benefactors in it for which God Almighty bless them and their Government to the world's end with Peace Health Wealth Honour and the Power of Religion Most Honourable Madam THE Best have not alwaies Love boiling in them yet at sometimes nothing works so strongly as Divine Goodness in their Souls and now we think we see in your heart hand and eye all lifting up unto the Hills from whence alone has your Salvation and Deliverance been we think we hear you still say God has been my Helper my Rock and my Salvation and I will bless him he hath inclined his Ear unto me therefore will I love
greatest of all Sinners said St. Paul And if I were equal says Deering in holiness to Abraham Isaac and Jacob and had the purity of Angels yet I would confess my self a Sinner and expect no Salvation but in Christ and from his Righteousness And if I had the excellency of all Creatures in Heaven and Earth I would still rely upon that for as there is but one Sun for all the World so there is but one Communion and Saviour for all Saints Oh! that I might live more to him or die to go to Heaven says a Father He is my Life he is my All said another And whenever thou art tempted to Uncleanness Lust or Pride consider what thou art already by Sin in respect of its desert and punishment and what thou shalt be in the Grave when thou hast lain a Month or two there and thy thoughtful Lusts and Plumes will quickly fall as the Soul is the Life of the Body so God is the Light and Life of the Soul When the Soul departs the Body dies and so the Soul dies too when God leaves it for when he forsakes us he utterly overthrows us and gives us a deadly Wound But Anselmus says That Christ died for Elect Men and Angels For Men that they might rise out of Sin and for Angels that they might not fall into it And if they should go to Hell that do not feed the Hungry and cloath the Naked Mat. 25. 42. what will become of them that oppress the Poor and take from them Prov. 14. 31. Ezek. 12. If want of Charity shall be Tormented what will become of Covetous Oppressors One said of Gregory the Great That he was the worst and the best Bishop worse than all that went before him and better than all those that have succeeded who used to be troubled when he read these words Son remember in thy Life-time thou receivedst thy good Things Luke 16. 25. A great Preacher said in his Life-time he was often tempted to despair but God gave him strength to overcome it But the same subtile Serpent in my Sickness would have persuaded me That my Labours and Fidelity in the Ministery had even merited Heaven but blessed be God that gave me strength to overcome him by bringing these two Scriptures especially What hast thou that thou hast not receiv'd 1 Cor. 4. 7. yet not I but the grace of God which was with me 1 Cor. 15. 10. These Texts made the Enemy get away ashamed Fools go laughing to Destruction as well as to the Correction But do any thing with me says another so thou save my Soul I had rather be in Hell without Sin than in Heaven with it Sayes Anselmus Ambition is a gilded Misery a secret Poyson and an hidden Plague the Parent of Envy the Original of Vice and Moth of Holiness Oh the unhappiness of great Men said a great Earl in the Tower that know no other end of their Greatness than to abuse Inferiours Young men middle-aged and old are oft surprized by Death and Ladies too while the Gown is making But this is life eternal to know thee the eternal true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent John 17. 3. And said a great Scholar and English Gentleman now in being I have studied almost all the Learning in the World and find more mystery in that short saying of Paul to Timothy This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the World to save Sinners 1 Tim. 1. 15. But when we consider what was done to John Huss of Bohemia and Thomas Cranmer Bishop of Canterbury in Queen Maries days we have just reason in this Land to fear the worst Dr. Cranmer was discourst about the lawfulness of King Henry's Divorce from Queen Catharine his Brothers Wife and his judgment was The King would do well to consult the Word of God and take able Divines counsel This advice was hearkned to and he sent for by the King and so dispatch'd away to Rome to dispute it with the Pope and the Earl of Wiltshire Ambassador along with him And it is said when they both came before the Pope the Pope put his Foot out for them to kiss the Earl's Spaniel being young fond and foolish and it may be train'd up catcht him by the Toe but however Cranmer and the Earl both scorn'd to kiss after him and presently after his return he was made Archbishop of Canterbury and soon after the Proverb grew Do him but a shrewd turn and he will be your Friend as long as you live And some say by Nature he Was a very Charitable Man I wish you Ladies for your own sakes were so too But we have no reason to complain nor I hope never shall against your most Noble Sex He was the freest from Passion of any man in the World But when they had set him upon a high Scaffold in Queen Maries dayes to make his Recantation for owning the Protestant Principles Dr. Cole having made a sad Popish Sermon to him to take his Death patiently and to rejoice in his Conversion as he called it After Sermon Cranmer said Pray you good People pray for me who have contrary to Truth and my Conscience for fear of Death Signed a Writing of Recantation for which this Hand of mine shall be first burnt holding it up with many tears running down his cheeks and at the fire he held it out that all might see it first burnt never stirring of it but once to wipe his Face to the grief of many Beholders in the Year 1556. But for John Huss he was burnt in the Year 1415. There being a Council about three Popes the Cardinals being divided after Alexander the fifths Death to which Council the Emperor commanded John Huss to go giving him his safe conduct to pass and return in which journey he preacht and set up letters of his judgment in every City At Constantine he was sent for by the Cardinals imprisoned and tyed up to a Rack against a Wall many Nobles and Lords of Bohemia petitioned for him but that would do no good But a good thing it is for great Lords to appear on the behalf of poor Ministers when imprisoned and persecuted for the Truth yea there were fifty of them in Bohemia that stood up and petitioned for him and Jerom of Prague A brave pattern for all Ages when the Truth is suffering but yet all signifi'd nothing For when the Council had degraded and condemned him he kneeled down saying Lord Jesus forgive them they know not what they do In degrading of him they pared off the hair so close that they even cut the skin off his Crown the Council having made an Order That Faith was not to be kept with Hereticks Going to be burnt they put upon him a Triple Crown of Paper all painted over with ugly Devils which when he saw he said My Lord Jesus did wear a Crown of Thorns for me and I will this for
to the best of our power and who can do too much for him who is all and will be all for ever He gives us all we have and though we can give nothing to him yet he accepts of what we give to any so it be for his Honour and the highest Honour on Earth is to be good and extensively doing good like the Air. 'T is but a little while at best that we can work and it may be you and the great good Ladies of that Family will never have such an opportunity to help erect a thing that may last perhaps to the last period of time and be so long for the Honour of your Noble Sex and Family also and therefore pray despise not the day of small things nor this good design Most Great and Right Honourable Countess AS your Noble Name and Title is beloved by all some for worth in that brave Warrier who yet lost his head in the daies of Queen Elizabeth and others for that brave Knight your Father who lost his in the late times for Loyalty to his Prince both which will hardly be forgotten and especially whilst your Lord continues as he does to do all good and good Offices for his King and Country may such Peers flourish and be as they are indeed Pillars of our Nation which do bear up Prince and Peoples Happiness and Honour And for this may Children love you yea Children yet unborn will when they come to know the worth of our Religion which if lost our Bodies would be all slaves and our Souls in danger to be damned for ever by Antichristian Errours O Madam who can love enough whilst he loves his Country so exceeding well and the Protestant Interest also May you yours and himself all long live live for us for our Prince and Nation once a Terrour unto others but especially for himself and true Happiness for to live to God is best of all We may live to our selves and Fortunes our King and Country forget Heaven and so be lost and miserable to Eternity which will be Heaven when all is done and no home is like that and he that made it for his favour is better than life it self and may that favour which he bears to his Chosen ones be to you and yours also yea may you all see the good of his Inheritage and be blessed in Soul and Body with all your Right Noble Issue here and hereafter pray every one of us Most Great and Right Noble Countess SAies the Lord I have set watchmen upon thy walls O Jerusalem that shall never hold their peace day nor night Your brave Lord most Noble Madam may be said to be the same if ever faithful warning was given to a Prince and Nation of dangers near and Counsels to prevent even at the brink your Lord hath certainly done it with strength of Wisdom Zeal and Boldness that never man spake better And now what shall we say of this our great Nations Seer that loves Scotland England Ireland and the Protestant Interest all the world over it being extensive like the Truth it self and the holy Gospel who can love more than every place where it is professed or preserve Liberty and Interest our only Jewels better than strongly to oppose all enemies for which may his Noble Name and Memory live and his Lordship sit as long as ever States-man served a Prince and for his Zeal to Prince and People let both love him and the Love of God dwell in him the blood of Christ be his Laver and when ever his great Soul shall leave this little lower sinful World let the holy Angels guard him and our Lord Jesus Christ personally present him to the Father to sing the high praises of God and the Lamb to all Eternity And when any of his near and Noble Family and Race have served their Generations and fallen asleep may they do the same and so successively to the World's end pray we Poor Hospital Boys Right Honourable and Noble Countess SOlomon tells us Wisdom is the principal thing and if it be as it is most deservedly accounted an excellent piece of Wisdom to know all the Laws and Statutes of a Nation What is it then to know the Laws and Statutes of Heaven the Will and Pleasure of the great and mighty Monarch Lord God of Heaven and Earth which your Lord yet doth Surely this must needs make him to be a great Figure and a great Statesman in this our Kingdom And may many many such States-men be to Rule and Govern the Great People of this Nation under our most excellent and good natur'd Prince And may their Wisdom be ever hearkened to and their hearts be zealous for his Greatness and all the Peoples Interest for he that serveth both shall never miscarry to his Honour and the wisest Ones Applause May your Lord steer in this Chanel miss all Rocks especially what may hurt his Soul live to his God and himself as well as his Prince and Country for Eternity is a long thing and may he you and all your Noble Issue be ever happy in it Pray one and all we Hospital-Boys Right Honourable Madam MAny and great have the Changes been which your Ladiship have known but this is certain there is a great and unchangeable good God who lives for ever and because he is so therefore the Sons of Jacob are not consumed Madam 't is this God and his Love we must stick to for nothing else will do us long good all things fail and fade set that aside the fairest Beauty and the sweetest Rose the richest Garment with the greatest Wealth and Honour will be left on Earth to die like other things but the Living God and the Living Word Jesus Christ who lives with and by the Father shall abide for ever Joh. 6. v. 57. And whosoever believes in him shall never dye c. 11. v. 26. Oh Madam may you so live live for ever with the Son and his Saints in the Kingdom of the Father to drink of the new Wine namely his Love which he speaks of Oh! 't is that that must be our portion if we have any thing worth the speaking of What 's the fluttering up and down the world or the Enjoyment of the world with all Accommodations in and Applauses of it if we lose our Souls as Christ speaks what shall it profit us That 's a Jem or inestimable Jewel never to be Rated but in Eternity it comes next of all to God and Christ it 's immortal ever living and shall never die if sin does not hurt it nothing can God Almighty make Christ to be our Righteousness both in Life Death and Eternity and that we may know this his Righteousness which is nigh and this Salvation which he so often and affectionately calls upon us for to mind saying Hearken hearken unto me my People Give ear unto me oh my Nation This my is a sweet word Scripture myes and Scripture ours are all so Oh!
may your most worthy Husband say Thousands thousands Soul-happiness lies at stake if Popery should come in and Property quite be lost then we are miserable and like to be unhappy for both worlds to live in fear in this dye in doubts and dangers as to the other is a great slavery as all out of the way must needs do God Almighty grant the Truth may never be lost nor any thing prevail against it or those either that contend and care for it day and night But the Church is founded on a Rock God's Love and Christ's Merit which the Gates of Hell cannot prevail over and much of the Nation 's Happiness is in the two Houses and the good Acts there to be made May your dear Relation sit who bears the whole name of that not forgotten proper brave beloved man his Father may he Vote may you both Live may you dye to God and Love your Country as you really do so shall your Names and Souls both live one on Earth for a while and the other in Heaven for ever with the Lamb and his Redeemed ones So prays all of us Right Honourable Madam WEre not your sharp quick and great parts naturally mixt with good and pious Principles we should not in the least presume or endeavour to engage your cheerful good and prudent Inclinations to accept of this your Family's Roll or Charity School-house Stick but presuming the work it self to be very good and the Noble Lady your Mother who is so eminently blest with good and many Children abounding in the world and they very Charitable also makes us complain of a peck of troubles for having raised near forty Poor and Fatherless Boys they prove very chargeable to be kept with Meat Drink and Cloaths as you know they have Now pray dear Madam speak or write to my Lady out of hand and tell her how it is with us and if she will subscribe a good gob and get the young Ladies to do something too and then put it all together with your Ladiship 's and Sir James's also for it is necessary he or you in his stead should do something now the great Ship is come safe in At the Rearing of the Tabernacle every one brought something Exod. 25. 22. And if in this you will to the Rearing of our School give something as the first fruits of your great Bay or new Plantation as it were to be sure the rest will be blessed the better and therefore pray give freely that we may say Received from you and your Family so much For we would not have them nor you out of the Noble List of Ladies nor want those prayers in the least which all our good Benefactors have May it please your Honourable Ladiship SIR Francis being a pious good charitable and most worthy person our only great Neighbour able to relieve support and help us we humbly pray this our Charity School-house Stick may be accepted by your Ladiship for we have nothing in the world to keep up us Poor Boys or put us out but the Benevolence of pious good and charitable Ladies therefore pray Madam be intreated to do a little for us who will never cease to pray the great God and his Son to bless you both in Soul and Body and your Olive-branches also ye may also be blessed with the blessing of Abraham sit down with Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven Luk. 13. 29. and never know troubles on the Earth but such as God's nearest and dearest Children meet with for the good of their Souls and a Soul-mercy it is for to have his Love and Providence turning all things to our good yea the worst things that do befal us here he can make the Best Sickness Death and Sin And may all this be and Sin forever pardoned to both your Souls and blotted out as if they had never been Oh the blessedness of that man whose sins are pardoned in Life Death and Eternity May this blessing with all others your Souls can wish or desire be your portion for ever and ever prays one and all us now at Highgate May it please your Ladiship SIR Walter Rawleigh in the Tower said That true and eternal Happiness lieth in God and no where to be tasted but in Religion which is a certain thing going up and down the world too little minded by the greatest but of more concern than all things in it said the Lord of Marlborough that was lately slain And that man that doth not first or last live to God will certainly wish he had never been when he cometh to die saies another great one and yet we must bleed and bleed saith the Doctor to keep Life or prevent Consumptions Cough Dropsie Ptysick and Diseases which it tells and foretels certain Death to be at hand as gray hairs doth a youthful Life past And if we have got over one bout of Sickness or Disease yet still another hangs over or upon us and is nigh or ready for to shake force or tear poor frail man all to pieces yea and something or another still at hand to turn us where we cannot turn namely Coffin Grave Prison and the Winding-sheet or last shift which may be eaten but never shaken off by mortals No Skin Flesh Bones and the faggs of pale Beauty must all be Earth and turn to that from whence we first of all came and 't is but just and reasonable that as that did feed cloath and nourish us as it were our Mother for a while we should sink dye fall and lay down our heads again into that most natural Lap or Bosom as being its most proper place to take our last or longest sleep in But O Madam may you yours or Sir Richard never come go into one world and another without a great Errand And may the Great God direct us what it is he sent us hither for For this end was I born every one says namely to know God and live to him Christ was born to die for us as he told Pilate and we are bound to live to him and must or else we shall wish we had never been The world is nothing but the world a dream and shadow that must pass away Were the Sands Sea and Mountains beaten Gold Death stretcheth out the fingers and we let go again all that head hand will heart or thoughts could ever hold wish or eye see May you then know may you then love Christ and live to him whilst you may he is yet near and dear but you would both be lost for ever if you should neglect him till it be too late Christ once wept often bled and wept too but will dye no more nor do no more for us if we do not live to him O let 's live to him and die to sin before we die Sin dies and dips the Soul in black and bloody Scarlets of defiance Old long and great ones eat it quite up O let not Canker Death Hell's Worm
your hands if once slipt and gone Oh! how much lost time have I to repent of and how little time to do it in said Sir Henry Wotton in King James's Reign Man's greatest happiness is to be good and at leisure to do good Delays and procrastinations of being good and doing good are dangerous And To morrow to morrow couzens many a one sayes a Father Therefore the Wise man sayes What thou findest in thy heart to do do it with all thy might for there is no device nor work in the Grave whither thou art going Eccles 9. 10. But he that dyes to sin daily makes the best step to this Eternal step of Death as a great Philosopher calls it which puts us not into another room but another place and condition quite away from all we now converse withal Relations never meet together more in the way and manner that they now do but the Father puts away the Son and the Son the Father and this Relation is never more nor the Marriage one neither Matth. 22. 30. Death is a Divorce for ever and though these Relations meet in the Resurrection-state yet is there neither Marriage nor giving in Marriage as Christ speaks to the seventh Brother Let Husbands love their Wives whilest they may and Wives their Husbands this step and journey will part them both for ever as one said to his wife a dying who had been married fifty years or upwards Oh me said a young Lady This is very sad that I must leave thee my dear so soon we have not been married one year what is there no Remedy and must I needs dye Truly yes he that lives must dye whether he be sick or no. We dye because we liv'd said one Death is decreed and we dye naturally our Bed and Sleep resembles Death and the Grave What is sleep but the shadow of it And he that will dye well must live well and if there be any thing after this Life Why do not young men take care to live well I did both saith Socrates though a heathen Live and Dye well go together What God hath joyned let no man put asunder for as the tree leans so it falls Eccles 11. 3. Men do not live sin-ward and dye God ward no no you must live to God and lean to God live and dye to God if ever you mean to go to him The Tree falls as it leans and lies as it falls If you fall God ward you are happy But if sin-ward you are miserable and ever like to be For after death comes judgment that is the stating of the Soul saith Burrace in an unchangeable state Here a mans condition may be mended but after death its never to be altered Faith and Repentance may be wrought here though it be at the last cast This night shalt thou be with me in Paradise Luk. 23. 43. Yet late Repentance seldom true though true Repentance never too late But after death there is no amendment nor Repentance neither Solomon hew'd and squared his Building for the Temple before-hand so that at the rearing of it up there was no noise of the Ax or Hammer heard Whoever God intends as a stone in the heavenly Jerusalem he fits before hand May you all be fitted all you young and lovely Ladies And you more elderly too May you all stand before the Lamb see him have his name and praise in your forehead Palms in your hands Robes upon your backs to cry with that numberless number of all kindreds tongues and people Salvation Glory Honour to the Lamb and to him that sits on the Throne for ever Rev. 7. 10. Yea may you all fall down cry not with the cry of Lamentation but Acclamation Joy and triumph which Triumph to the Godly will certainly be after all actions of Mortality are come to an end In the mean time all affections have two sharp ends the first and the last the first meeting and the last parting of Friends and Lovers is alwayes so And as Christ wept for Jerusalem and the hardness of the Jews whom Paul wished almost to be accursed for that they might be saved so the Jews shal one day be converted and look upon him whom they have peirced and mourn as for their first born Rev. 1. 7. And Paul's Friends wept sore when he told them they should see his face no more Act. 21. 13. But the Mary's wept Mary Magdalen and the Mother of Jesus wept when he said in his sufferings Woman behold thy Son John 19. 26. And the other Loved much because much was forgiven Mark 8. 36. You who have all your sins forgiven let the memorial of his sufferings dwell in your hearts and 't will make you weep to sin against him Oh! the kindness and favours of a good God are obligations to a good Soul May you all remember what he has shewed unto you at any time Were you never sick in dangers nor partakers of some special mercies Oh! keep the Remembrance of his goodness to your Souls But oh how little do rich and poor think upon this God and his goodness to their Souls which must stand before the Lamb as I said but now or be banisht from him for ever and ever or how little do they think of the worth Nature or Immortality of them What 's a fine Silk a fine Skin a fine Shape a sweet Face to such a Spark or Beam of God as the Soul is that came out from him and was breathed into man by him Gen. 2. 7. Shall this immortal thing ever starve dye and be forgotten which one calls the Breath of Life or the Living Breath which gives us Life Some never look their Bibles others never mind their Souls the whole world will not make amends for such a loss much less a vain wretched life of sinful pleasures and a few honours What! Careful for shape and fashion and neglect that which is the Breath of life or the life which gives us Breath as I said before Good Books are good Companions and the Bible makes glorious Christians when they so read mind it as to live up to it Queen Elizabeth lov'd it well and hug'd it in the Prison But vain Books eat up time and spoil many young Ladies and Gentlewomen but 't is not lack of time but love and relish to it that you do not read hear and pray more But what kind of foolish Creatures are many of you young Ladies to think God Christ Heaven Souls may be put off for any slight occasions or a Looking-glass You were not made for Birds or Butterflies to sing in woods Play Court or Dance in Sun But you are made for Saints to sing with Angels and go to God or else to weep in Hell Nay 't is so we will assure you and no otherwise there is but two places Look to the heavens and think well what he deserves that made them and you Psal 8. 3. and you to live in them for ever If
but give at length some diligence to make your Calling and Election sure Honours and Evidences are never sure enough can Heaven be too sure for you Come look after God and Christ more pray oftener throw your selves into the Arms of Jesus depend upon Free Grace and he will certainly save you and your Souls Like and love holiness Be in love and league with no sin and you shall have Joy Happiness and Holiness to Eternity And therefore as ever you would be Lodgers out of Hell live in the Church as a holy member of the Church love the best of Protestants persecution is a devilish sin And good preaching a great mercy And if ye love one another then are ye my disciples indeed sayes Christ Joh. 14. 21. And 't is reported of St. Chrysostom that they had rather want the shining of the Sun than his preaching and sayes he if I had a Mountain for my Pulpit and the whole world to hear me it should be upon that Text. O ye sons of men how long will ye love vanity Psal 4. 2. The delight of the soul is to know its maker and heavenly preaching is a soul-ravishing thing there being infinite sweetness in the love of God But he that does not lift his head and his heart above this world will perish with the world And he she that is for much ease new fashions and fine cloaths haiting up down in Coaches is oftentimes for little religion If you cannot live without excess of pleasures I say excessive ones you will be carried down the stream of Nilus to the deadly Sea called Mare Mortuum like the skipping fishes till they fall into it Come let brave Sparks and gallant Ladies mind better things the great God and his Son that came down from heaven and never knew pleasure here on earth but in doing his Fathers Will and if you will now do it when the Dore is once shut it is too late Some would be troubled if they should never go to the Park again or see another May-day But if you should never go to heaven you are utterly undone for there are but two places all go to one place saith Solomon but he means that of the grave Eccles 12. 7. But all besides believe two places if the principles of Religion were never so dubious yet it concerns us to be serious because they are of such mighty concernment to us Said the great Earl of Leicester Fools play with their souls and drawlers at Religion cut the thread of life and throat of them But sink not into this deadness and deadly wickedness as to make sin a sport of at any time especially such kind of sinning as throws a contempt upon God and his word and hardens others to despise and condemn that namely Religion which all ages and nations beside this have never done before But it were better to be drowned with a milstone about our necks than left to dye and be buried with a hard heart in the grave or live to draw others to hell Take heed which way you go the broad way is most easie but the narrow is most safe Luke 13. 24. Safe bind and safe find but sin loosened and the Reins let go carries us whither we should not and whither we would not If we did but consider but the want of due consideration if you will indeed do it too then you shall know it more than you do and taste it to be far better than all the sports and pleasures of the Court and Country too Oh! that I had never been King of Spain said that great Prince Charles the fifth and that I had lived a Hermite's life But a heavenly life will never be repented of Should not Ladies strive to be Angelical and holy in the eyes of God as well as lovely in the eyes of men why should you be all for Honour and not for Religion as some of you are It becomes great Sparks to seek great things and not to spend their time in Ladies Chambers tossing of a Play-Book or reading this or that little Jest crying Faith Madam here 's a good one Lord Bacon said Nothing concerns us so much in all the world as Religion and the Principles of it Come then and let us seek the world to come this passes away like May-day and May-flowers all but smoak or dew quickly gone but everlastingness is a mighty thing The world and times are bad let us make Christ all in all Col. 3. 11. He is so and will be so Let him be to us in point of Justification Sanctification and Redemption Imitate him and lean upon him in Life Death and Eternity Wisdom waits at his Gate to keep you from sin which a Play-house leads unto But I will go to the house of God sayes David and pay my Vows in thee O Jerusalem Psal 116. 19. And I mine in thee O Smithfield said that brave Hampshire Martyr John Philpot but if you care not for God's Honour he will not care for yours nor what becomes of you when you dye But he that honours me will my Father love said Christ Joh. 14. 21. But no man can love serve or honour him enough who has loved us so much as to wash us in his own blood Rev. 1. 5. And Philpot shed his free and boldly and disputed as bravely as ever man did for Christ and his Truth in the Convocation-house And the world is not worthy of those men which have been burnt upon this account in all or divers Countreys by the Man of Sin But take heed you be not foolish Virgins and foolish Ladies and such as have not Oil in your Lamps nor saving Grace in your hearts at midnight when the Cry of the Bridegroom shall come For if the door be then shut and Repentance too late Christ will never hear though you knock beg and cry upon your knees and were more beautiful than Angels saying Lord open open with ten thousand tears in your eyes The day is past and the night will never have an end But 't is non-consideration is the cause of men and women's damnation said a good Divine Therefore said God O that my people did but consider But the Ox knows his Owner and the Ass his Masters Crib but my people doth not consider Isa 1. 3. The length of Time the certainty of Eternity the impossibility of more than a long Life and how vain it is to labour not to dye once Methusalem dyed Gen. 5. 7. Piety strength or policy keeps none from the grave Consider saith Solomon do not all go one way to the dust Eccles 12. 5. But Christ shall say Come ye Blessed Go ye Cursed I was an hungry and you fed me naked and you cloathed me or you did it not Nay what you did to one of these little ones you did to me Matth. 25. 41 42. O Do something for the School if you have not yet though works do not merit 'T is impossible saith St. Austin
for our Souls And though our care be great for the Body yet a man may be as happy in Russet as in Cloth of Tissue A golden Cap and a rending Head a Silken Stockin and a sore Foot or a great Estate and the torment of the Stone or Gout in the great Toe is a grievous misery And I see sayes the Emperor that sovereignty commands no diseases nor the seas having set himself and chair on the shore at the Tides coming in crying back back and I command you proud waves back but the Emperor was fain to move And Bardue Coesar cryed I begot him mortal when word was brought him his only Son was dead which was the reward of Trophimus after he had finished the famous Oracle of Apollo and beg'd that which was the best for him and 't was promised in three dayes he should have it in which time he died But 't is our duty said Seneca to dye often yet one complained against the long life of a Raven and his own short but the old Romans counted it Ominous to see one and not two in the morning as if it had betokened Wife or Husband's death yet though that be the most known 't is the most unknown thing in the world The Sexton Clerk and Coffin-maker are most apt to forget their own though they nail up and bury others and the best Men Citizens and their Neighbours too when they have got their rings and gloves but 't is ill preparing for death when t is a burden to live Sick repentance is seldom true and 't is certain 't is labour and trouble enough to be head and heart sick and then a man can hardly do any thing but mind his ease or pillow Oh! put not off your Will but especially your souls weal and happiness to a dying hour My care was when young to live well and 't is now to dye well said a Heathen Physicians Lawyers and Ministers cannot be heard at once and it may be friends are troublesom too Come to live well is best and that will prevent the worst Oh! then play not the Courtiers part who some say do all things late Rise late Dine late Sup late and Repent late many times never but it is never too late if true but it should be of the whole man but when death has folded up mens dayes opportunities are all gone Moles see and Swans sing a little before they dye but a true Saint and a Simeon sayes let me depart in peace for mine eyes have seen thy salvation Luk. 2. 29. But the fashion of this world is to put men in mind of dying when they see they cannot live above a day or two longer but as I have lived uncertain so I now dye doubting said a wise man and a great Scholar yet after a thousand thousand millions of years eternity will be as long as ever sadly and suddenly will all worldly pleasures be turned into walking dreams and great Alexander is less now than a little whiteish to thistle down which the least wind or air rouls about the world passes away 1 Cor. 7. 31. time is short sayes Burroughs and sayes he the word signifies folded up to the last end or fag of it like a peice of cloth but eternity is still as long as ever Oh! set your house in order 2 King 20. 4. as the Prophet said to the good King if every one has not an house yet every one has a soul as well as a body and there be great affairs that concern both and the greatest wits in the world have been concerned for them said the Right Honourable the Earl of Northampton and have ever found sooner or later the power of God or Religion in their consciences yea the Great and Godly ones Oh my soul my soul said the French Cardinal And Oh mine said the wretched Pope And thou must never be merry more To dye safe is a good thing and the best of men are best at last and have heaven in their Bosoms and Breasts and say Let me go let me go Oh Christ thou are mine said another The Jews said God kissed Moses's soul out of him And the Minister said so he did a great Ladyes in Essex But though some men dye not so comfortably yet they all dye safely who have the habits of true Grace in their souls and many very bad men seem to dye quietly and go to hell like a Lamb in dull diseases consumptions senslesness and hardness of their hearts in sins for Satan can let men alone well enough when he knows he has them sure enough but 't is a sad thing to have a mans eyes never opened till they are sing'd and burnt open in hell break from him and sin now by true and timely repentance and you make sure work for ever Go forth go forth said one to his soul thou hast served God and trusted Christ many years and now Heaven is just at hand and this dying Body of mine shall live again as Job speaks Job 26. 27. and my Soul return with the Joys of Heaven to fetch it to it self Some say There are veins or strings in a man's Tongue which reach to the Heart and when they break he dyes But when heart and tongue shall speak this oh what a comfort is it in a dying hour Plato though a Heathen said All men almost were out of the way because they did not seek after the mind of God and that those did dye most comfortably that lived by reason and adored the first Being Therefore sayes Lucicrema to his friends when he had called for the Glass and combed his head Now clap your hands if I have acted my part well And Seneca sayes Since Nature has stamped a God in the mind of every man and the belief of him arose not from custom nor was enacted by a Law it necessarily follows there must be a Deity the belief is so natural And Cato sayes Epicurus did dread Death more than any thing in the world upon this account Lord Chancellor Edgerton sayes The Atheist and Prophane layes a wager with the Pious but upon mighty odds for one ventures his Life and Soul or the Life of his Soul for ever and the other but his Lust and Sin which is yet his Interest to be without and yet if it were on equal ground the disproportion is vast and infinite and what a sad surprize will he be in when by death he shall be instantly seized by horrid Spirits And this truth of reward and punishments will be tryed in a little time And 't is but a little while and every man shall be no man And though every one should strive to mend one that the world may be better yet may we not think that the world is angry with some because they are no worse When good men are sorry in themselves they are no better but he that is angry with sin and repents of it shall not easily sin in his anger when he
and sin out we might well say The worst is gone and the best is come praise be to him that maketh the change and is unchangeable in himself Mal. 3. 6. and in all his Attributes And he is a Fool that saith There is no God or That the Love of God hath not wonderfully appeared to Mankind by Jesus Christ Titus 3. 4. Oh! be rich in Faith and you shall never be poor in the world to come And they that are most full of that have most comfort and experience too of his Faithfulness Faith is the Life of the Soul and Christ is the Life of our Faith Oh! live upon him and you shall live with him and never dye Joh. 17. 24. Do not be offended with him nor they that are his Great and many waves have beat upon the Rock but the Church remains still and the Gates of Hell Sin Death and Despair nor Enemies neither shall ever prevail against it Matth. 16. 18. Some set their hearts upon God others against the Church but those that maliciously persecute good men will find ill Rewards Saul Saul why persecutest thou me Act. 9. 4. 'T is a mad thing to be furiously mad against good people If ever we expect to be happy we must be holy and hate no man for it for without it no man shall see God Heb. 12. 14. But the Devil tempts men to sin and then to despair and good men are full of doubts after sinning Oh! begin to live to God before you dye and a man may live sin dye and be utterly lost in a little time some thieves rob a long time others are quickly taken and executed but Gods patience is great towards most men yet some have but little sport for their souls airy Sparks ride post and quickly sin away their time but fair and soft is too fast to hell and the Devils and death would not be half so troublesom were it not for sin but he that leads a good life takes a great deal of comfort with him to his end and that death of his frees his soul for ever nothing can trouble in heaven unless it be want of living or more living unto God on earth and nothing can be more terrible in hell than to think there was a time they might but 't is past 't is past Simeon and Paul desired to dye Luk. 2. 29. David and Hezekiah desired to live 2 Kin. 20. 3. and it was well enough for them and his servants any way For whether we live or whether we dye we are the Lords Rom. 14. 8. for if indeed we be so we can never dye amiss A wise man never looses his wisdom though he be a sleep nor a good man his grace though he be catcht away before he is aware yet it is best to do as Job sayes Wait for our Change Job 14. 14. Death is never the nearer nor farther off for minding or not minding and young men have it at their backs as well as old men in their faces yet the familiar rising of it in our thoughts will make it less strange and more welcom when it comes if it be from trouble to comfort and not from light to darkness and the dungeon of darkness where light shall never be Oh that sinners would prevent weeping by weeping and their own misery by becoming God's Servants as a good Lady said If he be not a better Master than any do not serve him but if he be a better Master than all as certainly he is oh serve him serve him day and night O ye Lords Ladies Gentlewomen and others and ye would quickly be content so to do if ye did but taste how gracious he is and how much better to you than you deserve Sin and Sinners desert is Hell Oh! 'T is mercy to us all to have any thing on this side that and all misery to be there Though we came into the world alike and must go out yet let 's not live alike but say you as Joshua did I and my house will serve the Lord Joshuah 24. 15. Oh! hazard your credit if it be counted discredit to fear him for 't is not unlovely or not commendable to love what is most lovely Christ and his wayes Great peace have they that keep his laws Psal 119. but ill company will commit evil for company and two or three men were lately stabbed by their companions who haunted ill houses but good company never hurts and the house of mourning is better than the house of feasting many times And Bishop Cranmer was troubled for but drinking at Queen Mary's court because she would not hearken to the Gospel nor his Counsel in King Edward s dayes and good men should every where savour of the fear of God be much in self-tryal and in self-denial too and to take up his cross when Christ layes it before him as that good man did at the stake for his counsel or sticking to the word of God but the worst of Christ or suffering for him is better than the best of all the world Paul and Silas sung in the Stocks Act. 16. 25. so did Hampshire Philpot in Bonner's Cole-house He learns Christ well that learns to follow him through thick and thin He left his life to save us we find ours in following him Christ dyed to give Life and Repentance Act. 3. 26. And no man ever repented for serving him in a just Call A wise man provides for his Family and saves his Soul by his Skin or Sufferings many times Some have bewailed the day of their Birth as Job did through the greatness of his grief chap. 6. 2. None the day of Conversion or Marrying unto Christ or Tryals for him when he stood by them And this is a sweet Promise I will never leave thee nor forsake thee Isa 49. 14 16. Isa 43. 1 2 3. But the Forsakers of God shall be forsaken Short Sayings of the Wise or Q. Mary 's Martyrs WIll you now most Noble Ladies take a few short and serious Sayings from the Wise pore and ponder on them but a little which are as Goads and Nails fastened by the Master of the Assemblies that is Christ saith Solomon Eccles 12. 11. for it is meant of him And this was a good one of Sir Francis Compton Oh! keep close to Religion for that brings Peace at the last Hold out Faith and Patience saith Boulton It 's but one Stile more and we shall be at our Father's House said a brave Martyr When shall I be dissolved and be with Christ saith another Lo here I am let them do with me what they please but don't you meet me at the last Day in an unconverted state Said a good Man to his Children in a dying Hour and they weeping for him he cried What a deal of do is here to let a Man die and go Home And so with Heavenly Counsel fell a sleep Perkins converted Northampton Boulton And Brave Learned Famous Bishop Vsher desired to Die as
called God's because God contrived and designed this Way of justifying Sinners from Eternity therefore says Paul God was in Christ reconciling the World to himself not imputing their Sins 2 Cor 5. 19. Secondly It is called God's Righteousness because Christ who was God as well as Man wrought and brought it about yea he alone brought it about And therefore it is said of the People There was none to help and mine own arm brought salvation Isa 63. 5. Then what an injury and dishonour do the Papists unto Christ in bringing so many He and She-Saints in to share with him now the work 's done Thirdly it is called God's Righteousness Rom. 10. 3. because it is imputed reckoned implied and discovered to us by the holy Spirit of God working Faith in our hearts But then secondly it is frequently called Christ's Righteousness because Christ as man in our nature stead room and place wrought it for us not Christ and Peter not Christ and Paul the Disciples all slept and Christ prayed and sweat alone bore all the wrath and hung upon the Tree for us bore our sins in his own body dead buried and rose again for us well may he be called as he is the Lord our Righteousness and the Justifier of the Vngodly Thirdly it is called Abraham's Righteousness he being the Father first and most ancient Saint of God and he to whom the promise next Adam or rather Eve was most eminently made and therefore saith God In thy Seed that is in Christ shall all the Nations of the earth be blessed Gen. 22. 17. Not that it is indeed his any more than Isaac's Jacob's or any other Servant of God's that shall believe the promise as he or they eminently did Isa 51. 1. We are bid look unto Abraham do and go unto the same Pit as he did namely Christ for Righteousness for as God justified him so just so and no otherwise will he do by you and all us that do believe in him Fourthly it is called the Gentiles Righteousness that is the Heathens and Ungodly Sinners such as were without God in the World and did worship instead of the true God Moloch Bell and the Dragon Mars Venus Jupiter and Apollo and the Devil in an hundred Idols consecrated Trees and Four-footed Creatures Now to these miserable Gentiles was Christ promised and sent and he shall bring forth judgment unto the Gentiles Isa 51. namely Christ that is a right understanding to worship the true God that made Heaven and Earth which Papists yet so much continue in by worshiping Pictures Shrines Images and the consecrated Host a little Half-farthing Wafer and for which not doing they have burnt and murthered thousands A thing most cruel on one hand and irrational on the other yea more than the Persians worshiping of the Sun a thousand times for that 's a glorious creature though it be but a creature Now from these Gentiles we came and are of their Race yet by Christ and his Righteousness which is called the Gentiles we are made near though otherwise Strangers and Aliens But fifthly as it is called God's Christ's Abraham's and the Gentiles Righteousness so it is called Faith's Righteousness also Rom. 10. 6. That the Righteousness of Faith might come unto the Gentiles Rom. 9. 30. And it is called Faith's Righteousness first because by Faith we see it lay hold on and believe in it to the saving of our souls Faith is an eye that sees Christ and his Righteousness Faith is an hand and receives Christ and his Righteousness Faith is an ear that hears Christ and his Righteousness when 't is preached on And all my Sheep follow me says he and I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish Joh. 10. 28. For with the heart man believes saith St. Paul and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation What Confession namely this That God has raised Christ from the dead and made his life and death a Righteousness for poor sinners which alone is the ground of their justification and eternal salvation in the highest Heavens also And for this and this alone and denying Mass Purgatory and Works of Supererogation and for denying the Popes Infallibility and Supremacy have thousands and thousands been massacred and murdered in the Christian world but when did any Protestants put any Roman-Catholicks to death meerly upon the account of their Religion or how very few have they been Thomas of Becket Bishop of Canterbury was knock'd on the head by 3 or 4 Blades at Court for quarrelling with the King or interrupting of the Laws and some-body else by a just Law hang'd for a Gun intended against a better much greater King and for this one is Sainted and the other may be too in a little time But Faith and its Righteousness teaches us none of these but to submit to Kings and all lawful authority that we may live peaceably and quietly under them in all righteousness and honesty Rom. 13. 1. But sixthly this Righteousness is called the Saints Righteousness that is all sanctified men women and children and Righteousness in the world for a Saint is nothing else in a strict sense but a man or woman truly fearing God and a little of the true fear and grace of God in the heart makes any man or woman in the world so in the account of God and the holy Scriptures for 't is not Notion Gifts Parts great and humane Learning but saving truth that make a Saint And all the humane learning in the world says Hintius will not rectifie the crooked nature of man as instance Socrates and Aristotle the one being a covetous wretch as ever liv'd and the other keeping a common Strumpet for his Lust But a little saving grace will bridle men from all sin when bare humane knowledge cannot nor all the Brass Tin and Copper in the world make a dram of Gold nor all the common gifts parts and wit of men which I speak not in the least against no not in the least but reverence it and them that have it yet I say 't is grace and the sanctifying grace and Spirit of God in the heart that makes a Saint and whoever has any thing of that more or less for some have much more and some much less than others yet whoever has the least sanctifying measure of the Truth in his Heart is a Saint and Servant of God be he Noble or Ignoble High or Low Rich or Poor Learned or Unlearned and for this see these Texts or Scriptures at your leisure Phil. 1. 1. Col. 1. 2 12. Ephes 4. 12. Chap. 3. 8. Heb. 6. 10. And therefore if any fine young Lady Gentlewoman or others have but a little love to Christ the Word Ways Things or Servants of Christ she may be a Saint as well as the greatest they were called at the first Disciples Brethren 2 Joh. 1. 2. Jam. 1. 2. Christians Acts 11. 26. Saints and Believers Acts 5. 14. 1 Tim. 4.